Unfinished Melody
by J9
Summary: Sara comes across an unexpected present (Warrick-Sara)


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Title: Unfinished Melody

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Author: Jeanine (jeanine@iol.ie)

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Rating: PG

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Pairing: Sara/Warrick

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Feedback: Makes my day

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Disclaimer: If it was in the show, it's not mine.

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Archive: At my site Checkmate () , Fanfiction.net; anywhere else, please ask.

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Notes: For the LiveJournal MultiFandom1000 "Gifts" challenge

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Summary: Sara finds an unexpected gift

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Sara is not a woman who needs sleep; but today is one of those days where she is about an inch away from crashing and burning, and on her way to the locker room, all she wants to do is go home and sleep. 

Then she gets to the locker room and sees something odd. 

Lying on the floor of the deserted room, there is a sheet of paper. Not just any paper though, a single sheet of musical manuscript. 

It's lying there beside the bench, folded in three, as if it's fallen out of someone's locker accidentally, and Sara leans down to pick it up, hoping she can figure out who it belongs to. She knows that Lea plays guitar, the two of them have had the odd discussion about their preferred brand, and for a while there, Greg was also trying to learn, though without much success. It could belong to Catherine; Lindsey is learning piano, and Catherine has often left sheet music in the photocopier, which leads to stern words from Grissom about unauthorised use of lab resources. 

But when Sara looks at the manuscript, she realises that it can't belong to Catherine, or Greg, because it's not printed, or photocopied, but hand-written. Nor, she thinks, can it belong to Lea, because she's heard the lab tech complain that she's lousy at writing music, and this is a work of composition; Sara can see the eraser marks, just like she can see the care and precision that has gone into putting the notes down on paper. 

Whoever wrote this, she thinks, was serious about what they were doing. 

Intrigued now, she turns the paper over in her hands, sees no name, no clues as to who might own it, save the familiar writing that she just can't place. As she studies the notes, her mind translates them into sound, and within seconds, she's humming the piece to herself, and when she gets to the end of the second page, she's left feeling strangely bereft, because the melody was so lovely, so haunting, and she really wants to know how it ends, and, for that matter, how it begins. 

She jumps when the door opens, and she's relieved to see that it's Warrick who's there, because he won't tease her for humming in the locker room. What she's not prepared for though, is the way that his eyes zero in on the paper in her hand, how his jaw drops slightly, how he swallows hard. 

He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't have to. 

"This is yours?" Sara asks, because she never would have guessed that he could write something like that. 

Warrick shrugs, obviously uncomfortable. "It's just a hobby," he says, reaching out for it, but she pulls it closer to her, a wide smile spreading across her face. 

"It's good," she tells him, and surprise floods his features. 

"You read music?"

"I play guitar," she confirms. "But this… I could never write something like this."

He nods, takes a step towards her. "Can I have it back?" 

He's trying to speak lightly, but there's something in his tone that's no joke. Sara knows this, and normally, she'd pull back, but something stops her, makes her hold on to the sheet, pressing it close against her chest. "Can I see the rest of it?"

He shakes his head, smiles, but it's nothing like a real Warrick smile. "It's not finished…"

"Then let me see the start of it," she says, and when he doesn't move, she tilts her head, smile fading, curious now, because there's something not right about this. "Warrick?" He says nothing. "Why don't you want me to see it?" 

There's a long moment of silence, and then he sighs heavily, the sound almost an explosion in the otherwise empty room. His eyes hold hers as he reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulls out an identical sheet of paper, identically folded, and hand it to her. 

She takes it, feeling strangely apprehensive, opens it up. What she sees there stops her breath, makes her look up at him, her eyes wide in shock and wonder. 

Her name is at the top of the page. 

"You wrote me a song?" 

Her voice will only come in a whisper, and she sees him shrug before her gaze is drawn back to the page in her hands, and she is once more reading the music. She hears it in her mind, the soundtrack to his quiet words. "I was fooling around one day… it was the Matlin case and we'd just pulled our third double shift in a row… it was one of those where we thought we'd never solve it, but we did?" She remembers it well, remembers thinking at the time what a good team the two of them made. 

But that was in the summer, and this was December. 

"The melody came into my head, and I started writing it down. I was thinking, maybe as a present for your birthday… then maybe for Christmas…" She looks up then, sees another shrug. "I just can't finish it right." 

She tries to speak, fails, swallows and tries again. "It's beautiful," she manages, and the corners of his lips turn up in the tiniest of smiles. 

"It was inspired," he replies, and her cheeks flame crimson, her tiredness forgotten as she steps towards him. 

"Will you play it for me?" He blinks, and she hastily adds, "I know it's not finished…"

She stops when he reaches out, and she thinks he wants the paper, but instead he wraps his hand around hers. "Maybe we can finish it together?" he suggests, and Sara feels a broad smile returning to her face. 

"I'd like that." 


End file.
